Aaron Civale pitched six stellar innings and Willy Adames hit a three-run homer in the first inning as the Milwaukee Brewers ended the Cleveland Guardians’ five-game winning streak with a 5-3 victory in a matchup of division leaders on Friday night.

Civale, who began his career with Cleveland in 2019, gave up four hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

After going 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in his first five appearances with Milwaukee, he’s 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA over his last two starts.

The Brewers jumped on Gavin Williams for three runs in the first.

Ty Black reached on a fielder’s choice with one out and William Conteras walked before Adames sent a 431-foot drive over the wall in right-center.

It was Adames’ franchise record 10th three-run homer – the most in the majors this season.

Jose Ramirez and David Fry homered in the eighth to draw the Guardians within 5-3, but Joel Payamps retired the side in order in the ninth for his sixth save with regular closer Devin Williams unavailable.

Lowly White Sox end Astros’ win streak

Luis Robert Jr. had two home runs among his four hits and drove in four runs as the major league-worst Chicago White Sox snapped the Houston Astros’ eight-game winning streak with a 5-4 victory.

Robert hit a two-run homer in the third and added a solo shot in the fifth as the White Sox built a 4-1 lead. It’s the seventh career two-homer game for Robert and his first since March 30 against Detroit.

Jake Meyers and Jon Singleton homered for the Astros, who struck out a season-high 16 times in their first loss since Aug. 5.

The White Sox (30-93) are 3-5 in their last eight games following 21 consecutive losses.

Garrett Crochet allowed one run on four hits over four innings with nine strikeouts. Chad Kuhl gave up Singleton’s homer in the ninth but fanned Jose Altuve for his first save of the season.

Witt continues surge as Royals win

Bobby Witt Jr. homered, doubled and singled to raise his major league-leading average to .352 and Michael Lorenzen pitched into the sixth inning to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 7-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

Witt hit a four-seam fastball from Nick Martinez 430 feet into the upper deck for his 25th homer in the fourth inning. He doubled and scored on a fielder’s choice in the sixth and had an infield single in the seventh.

The Reds intentionally walked him with two outs in the ninth, just before he scored on Vinnie Pasquantino's 18th homer.

Witt is batting .422 (27 for 64) with seven homers and 19 RBIs in his last 16 games. He became the third Royals player to hit 25 homers and steal 25 bases in consecutive seasons.

Lorenzen, acquired by the Royals from Texas on July 29, allowed a run and two hits in 5 2/3 innings and left after 83 pitches.

Salvador Perez, Adam Frazier and Freddie Fermin also drove in runs for Kansas City, helping snap Cincinnati's four-game win streak.

Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm each hit two home runs, Ben Rice and Anthony Volpe also went deep and the New York Yankees handled the MLB-leading Philadelphia Phillies 14-4 on Monday.

Judge increased his major league-leading totals to 39 home runs and 99 RBIs. Chisholm, who logged his first professional start at third base, went deep for the first time in a Yankees uniform.

Chisholm, who played in his second game for New York since being traded by the Miami Marlins, borrowed Judge’s bat to hit both his home runs.

Juan Soto also had a strong night at the plate, going 3 for 5 while driving in three runs.

Giancarlo Stanton returned from a 28-game absence due to a hamstring strain and was 0 for 4 with a walk and a run scored.

Three of New York’s home runs came off Philly ace Zack Wheeler, who surrendered seven runs and seven hits in five innings’ work as he fell to 10-5.

Luis Gil had a quality start and collected the win after giving up three runs in 5 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts.

The win gave the Yankees their first three-game winning streak since June 9-12 as they remained one game back of the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East.

Tuesday’s game, the second of a three-game set, features an enticing pitching match-up with Gerritt Cole and Aaron Nola slated to start.

Adames, Chourio homer late as Brewers beat Braves

Willy Adames hit a three-run shot in the sixth inning, Jackson Chourio added a two-run homer in the eighth and the Milwaukee Brewers rallied to beat the Atlanta Braves 8-3.

Adames had three hits from the clean-up spot, and his 17th home run of the season gave Milwaukee their first lead of the night after Rhys Hoskins’ solo shot got the Brewers on the board in the fifth.

Marcell Ozuna hit his 31st home run of the season in the fourth inning, and Sean Murphy also went deep for the Braves, who are 3-7 since the All-Star break.

Milwaukee starter Colin Rea only allowed three hits, but two of them were home runs. He pitched 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts in the no-decision.

Skenes strong again, Pirates lifted by HR in 9th

Paul Skenes continued his dominant rookie season with six strong innings, Michael A. Taylor hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros 5-3.

Skenes received a no-decision despite allowing two runs (one earned) and five hits over six innings with six strikeouts, dropping the rookie All-Star’s ERA to 1.90.

The Pirates improved to 9-4 in games started by Skenes. Even after another successful outing, however, the flame-throwing right-hander felt he could have performed better.

“I wasn’t executing, and frankly, got lucky,” Skenes said after the game. “I was trying to find it.”

Taylor stepped to the plate with two on and two out to face Josh Hader in a 2-2 ballgame, sending a fastball over 420 feet into left-centre field for his third home run of the season.

David Bednar converted his 19th save of the season in the bottom half, but only after forcing in a bases-loaded walk to Yordan Alvarez with two outs.